Yeager Airport Unveils Electric Aircraft Charging Station, Eyes the Future of Flight

Look up over Charleston one of these days, and the aircraft you see might be running on electricity. West Virginia International Yeager Airport has a brand-new charging station built for electric aircraft, putting the Capital City's airport in line for one of the biggest shifts aviation has seen in decades.

The airport, known by its code CRW, recently unveiled the charging station for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, often called eVTOLs. These are the quiet, battery-powered aircraft that can lift straight up like a helicopter and then fly forward like a plane. The project came together through a partnership between Yeager, Marshall University's Bill Noe Flight School and BETA Technologies, a Vermont-based company that developed the charger and is building electric aircraft of its own.

Yeager Airport Director and CEO Dominique Ranieri said the new equipment gives CRW the infrastructure those aircraft need to plug in and recharge, which is their version of refueling, and lets them use the airport's airspace as the technology keeps developing.

Ranieri said the airport wanted to get in on the ground floor. Her goal is for Yeager to be ready when these aircraft are approved to carry passengers and cargo, so it can be one of the airports offering that service to travelers and businesses here in West Virginia.

She described electric flight as an emerging part of the industry and said aviation is heading toward low-emission, electric aircraft. According to Ranieri, BETA is developing several uses for its electric vertical takeoff aircraft, along with aircraft that take off and land the traditional way on a runway, and the company is already manufacturing them.

BETA representatives were on hand for the ribbon cutting, and Ranieri said one of the company's aircraft was at the airport for the event. That visit was also tied to an announcement with Marshall University about training pilots who can fly these aircraft.

That piece could matter most for young West Virginians. Ranieri said the Bill Noe Flight School will give students a pathway to learn how to operate this new kind of aircraft, which means the next generation of electric aircraft pilots could be earning their wings right here at home instead of leaving the state to do it.

For an airport perched on a mountaintop above the Kanawha Valley, it's a fitting step. Yeager is already West Virginia's busiest airport, and now it's planting a flag for whatever comes next in the skies. No timeline has been announced for when passenger or cargo flights on electric aircraft might begin, since that depends on those aircraft being approved for that kind of service.

It's not every day the Mountain State gets to be early to the party on new technology, and this one is worth being proud of. We'll keep you posted as electric aircraft start showing up at CRW.